BILL NUMBER: AB 2093 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Grove
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
An act to amend Section 9030 9014 of
the Elections Code, relating to elections.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2093, as amended, Grove. Petitions: filings.
Existing law provides that an initiative or referendum measure may
be proposed by filing with elections officials a petition signed by
a specified number of voters. Under existing law, the proponents of
an initiative measure have 150 days to gather signatures and file the
initiative petition, and the proponents of a referendum measure have
90 days to gather signatures and file the referendum petition. Under
existing law generally, when the last day to perform an act falls on
a holiday, the time in which to perform that act is extended to the
next business day.
This bill would specify that, if the final day to file an
initiative or referendum petition falls on a holiday, as defined, the
petition may be filed with the county elections official on the next
business day.
Existing law specifies procedures for collecting signatures on a
petition for an initiative, referendum, or recall, and for filing the
petition and signatures with elections officials.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) Under the California Constitution, an initiative or referendum
measure may be proposed by presenting to the Secretary of State a
petition containing a specified number of signatures. The California
Constitution requires that a petition for a referendum measure be
submitted within 90 days of the date of enactment of the statute that
is the subject of the referendum, and state law requires that a
petition for an initiative measure be submitted within 150 days of
the date of the circulating title and summary furnished by the
Attorney General.
(b) In some instances, the final day to submit an initiative or
referendum petition falls on a holiday, when the offices of state and
county elections officials are closed. In those circumstances, the
proponents of an initiative or referendum measure are faced with the
choice of either submitting the petition prior to the holiday, in
which case the period to gather signatures would be reduced, or
submitting the petition after the holiday, in which case the
proponents would risk rejection of the petition as untimely.
(c) While the California Constitution specifies a period of 90
days to gather signatures for a referendum measure, it gives no
guidance as to how to construe the 90-day period in those instances
in which the final day falls on a holiday.
(d) The courts of this state have long held that the initiative
and the referendum are sacred rights of the people and provisions of
law shall be liberally construed to give full effect to the powers of
initiative and referendum.
(e) The framers of the California Constitution did not intend that
the powers of initiative and referendum should be frustrated by the
mere happenstance that the final day to submit a petition falls on a
holiday.
(f) It is a general and well-accepted rule of law that, when the
last day to perform an act falls on a holiday, the time in which to
perform that act is extended to the next business day.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to
preserve the people's rights of initiative and referendum by
clarifying that, in those instances in which the final day to submit
a petition falls on a holiday, the proponents of the initiative or
referendum measure may submit the petition on the next business day
following the holiday.
SEC. 2. Section 9014 of the Elections
Code is amended to read:
9014. (a) A petition for a proposed
initiative measure or referendum measure
shall not be circulated for signatures prior to the official
summary date. A
(b) Subject to subdivision (d), a
petition with signatures on for a
proposed initiative measure shall be filed with the county elections
official not later than 150 days from the official summary date, and
no a county elections official shall
not accept a petition on for
the proposed initiative measure after that period. A
(c) Subject to subdivision (d), a
petition for a proposed referendum measure shall be filed with the
county elections officials official not
later than 90 days from the date the legislative bill was chaptered
by the Secretary of State, and a county elections official shall not
accept a petition for the proposed referendum measure
after that period.
(d) If the last day to file a petition pursuant to subdivision (b)
or (c) is a holiday, as defined in Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 6700) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, the
petition may be filed with the county elections official on the next
business day. However, a petition filed pursuant to this subdivision
shall not be circulated after the petition filing deadline specified
in subdivision (b) or (c), and a signature obtained after that
deadline shall not be valid.
SECTION 1. Section 9030 of the Elections Code
is amended to read:
9030. (a) Each section of the petition shall be filed with the
elections official of the county or city and county in which it was
circulated, but all sections circulated in any county or city and
county shall be filed at the same time. Once filed, a petition
section shall not be amended except by the order of a court of
competent jurisdiction.
(b) Within eight days after the filing of the petition, excluding
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, the elections official shall
determine the total number of signatures affixed to the petition and
shall transmit this information to the Secretary of State. If the
total number of signatures filed with all elections officials is less
than 100 percent of the number of qualified voters required to find
the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall so notify the
proponents and the elections officials, and no further action shall
be taken with regard to the petition.
(c) If the number of signatures filed with all elections officials
is 100 percent or more of the number of qualified voters needed to
declare the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall
immediately so notify the elections officials.
(d) Within 30 days after this notification, excluding Saturdays,
Sundays, and holidays, the elections official shall determine the
number of qualified voters who have signed the petition. If more than
500 names have been signed on sections of the petition filed with an
elections official, the elections official shall use a random
sampling technique for verification of signatures, as determined by
the Secretary of State. The random sample of signatures to be
verified shall be drawn in such a manner that every signature filed
with the elections official shall be given an equal opportunity to be
included in the sample. The random sampling shall include an
examination of at least 500 or 3 percent of the signatures, whichever
is greater. In determining from the records of registration what
number of qualified voters have signed the petition, the elections
official may use the duplicate file of affidavits of registered
voters or the facsimiles of voters' signatures, provided that the
method of preparing and displaying the facsimiles complies with law.
(e) The elections official, upon the completion of the
examination, shall immediately attach to the petition, except the
signatures thereto appended, a properly dated certificate, showing
the result of the examination, and shall immediately transmit the
petition and the certificate to the Secretary of State. A copy of
this certificate shall be filed in the elections official's office.
(f) If the certificates received from all elections officials by
the Secretary of State establish that the number of valid signatures
does not equal 95 percent of the number of qualified voters needed to
find the petition sufficient, the petition shall be deemed to have
failed to qualify, and the Secretary of State shall immediately so
notify the proponents and the elections officials.
(g) If the certificates received from all elections officials by
the Secretary of State total more than 110 percent of the number of
qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient, the petition
shall be deemed to qualify as of the date of receipt by the
Secretary of State of certificates showing the petition to have
reached the 110 percent, and the Secretary of State shall immediately
so notify the proponents and the elections officials.